In addition, in 1981, after a rash of murders at Cabrini-Green, Chicago mayor Jane Byrne moved into the complex for several weeks, ostenstibly to raise awareness of the problems in the area. My recollection is that that got quite a bit of press at the time.
If I say the words "Pruitt-Igoe" to you with no context provided, do you know what I'm referring to?
Gosh, I remember that… It was a big deal.
Well over 55. If I ever heard of it, I don’t remember.
Hmm. Pruitt-Igoe plays a role in Koyaanisqatsi; Cabrini-Green plays a part in Candyman. Philip Glass did the music for both.
Yes, but I studied urban planning at a prestigious and liberal-minded university, in the early 1990s, while reading Joel Garreau’s Edge City and David Harvey’s The Condition of Postmodernity, in which the demolition of this public housing complex was a key moment in the end of postwar modernist thinking and design.
Maybe but like some of the ones in NYC it has the advantage of TV shows using its town as a “home”.
As for the OP we just called the “projects”. The tower/apartment building ones were projects and the more housing variety we just called slums. Inner-city social history is even a bit of a thing for me and the name didn’t ring any bells until I hit your link. Before that it could have been the scientific term for anything for all I knew.
Nope. Never heard of it. Absent of context, I would assume it was the name of some discovery or invention (like Dunning-Kruger or Hale-Bopp)
I lived in St. Louis in the late '70s–early '80s, and I viewed the empty P-I site from across the street when I went to see Scott Joplin’s house on Delmar. At the time Joplin’s house was neglected and dilapidating. Fortunately they’ve fixed it up into a museum now.
Same here.
Never heard of it, but would instantly recognize Cabrini-Green.
Instant recognition here. Moved to STL in 1966 and lived in North County. Our office was at 12 and DelMar so drove by there most days.
48 and never heard of it. I suspect familiarity tracks at least as much regionally as by age. I find Wikipedia’s description of it being “internationally infamous” perhaps a bit exaggerated.
Age 65. Nope. Have no idea and don’t even care to make a guess.
Interesting. Thanks to all who participated. 
Huh. I knew about this as A Thing, i.e., a chapter in the story of well-intentioned failure that is the 1960s-70s era of public housing projects, but not so familiar with it as to have developed name recognition, nor to remember it as happening in St. Louis.
I didn’t recognized it when I saw the thread title and voted in the poll. Once I looked it up I realized that I was obliquely familiar with it.
I have an amateur’s interest in urban issues and learned about Pruitt-Igoe back in the mid-70s. I’m 60 and Canadian.
To follow up on my original post, after looking up the info and seeing the rest of the thread, I have still never heard of Pruitt-Igoe or Cabrini-Green and have no idea why I should be expected to be familiar with some housing development in a random city.
I’m 50 and never lived anywhere near St. Louis. Pruitt-Igoe was demolished a couple of years before I started paying much attention to current events. When I first read the OP, the name didn’t ring a bell. But after reading up on it, I think I have heard of it. Several years ago, I watched previews on PBS of a documentary about a failed public-housing project, and may have caught a few minutes of the documentary itself. I think it was probably The Pruitt-Igoe Myth (2011).
Count me as another who would have recognized Cabrini-Green. It was demolished only less than a decade ago, and I remember it being in the news a lot from the 1990s until the demolition. As with Pruitt-Igoe, I don’t remember it being mentioned in the news after the demolition.
I recognized the name and know what it was. I am >55
I had no idea what Cabrini-Green was though.
I have never lived or spent any time in either St. Louis or Chicago.